


Call It What You Want

by alex_halcyon



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Canon, Canon Universe, Developing Relationship, F/M, Fluffy Ending, It's just a little story about their developing relationship, Light-Hearted, Protective Uchiha Sasuke, Redemption, Romance, Sakura understands Sasuke, they love each other a lot, yes this is inspired by and uses the lyrics from the taylor swift song
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-05
Updated: 2020-11-05
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:15:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27407179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alex_halcyon/pseuds/alex_halcyon
Summary: “Sakura, I’m home.”No one else will understand, so call it what you want.
Relationships: Haruno Sakura/Uchiha Sasuke
Comments: 2
Kudos: 40





	Call It What You Want

**Author's Note:**

> cross-posted from my fanfiction.net account!

_My castle crumbled overnight_

_I brought a knife to a gunfight_

_They took the crown but it's alright_

He saw her hovering above him and Naruto. Her usually perfectly brushed hair was matted and knotty. He bright skin was marred by dirt and tear-tracks, new and old. Her eyes were sad and sorrowful, but still sparked with hope and her steely determination.

He’d never been more broken and bruised, so thoroughly defeated…but he didn’t care. With her there, he felt complete, he finally felt like he’d reached a point where he could truly feel at peace.

_All the liars are calling me one_

_Nobody's heard from me for months_

_I'm doing better than I ever was_

Repentance and redemption were not easy to come by. He was tortured by the memories of things he did and said, things he wished he could go back and change, but would never be able to. They were a dark, stubborn stain upon his soul.

He allowed himself to feel again. To taste life, to try and see the world through _his_ eyes, and see himself through _hers_. It was taking time, it was taking action, but it was changing him slowly from the inside out. He felt different, somehow, and he began to look beyond. He could sometimes see it, somewhere in the future, the day that he’d be worthy to stand beside her as an equal. To show her just how much she had meant to him all this time.

_Cause..._

_My baby's fit like a daydream_

_Walking with his head down_

_I'm the one he's walking to_

_So call it what you want, yeah_

_Call it what you want to_

She had been waiting. Some days she felt so impatient she thought she would explode, but she held herself together because she knew he’d come back to her when he was ready. The others might not really understand, but that was because they didn’t know him. Not like she did. Her one-time crush had evolved into something felt deeper inside her soul than she’d ever imagined it would. She knew him, in ways that no one else ever would.

“Sakura, I’m home.”

She hadn’t been expecting him, but that didn’t surprise her. He wasn’t one to do what was expected. But those words made her feel whole and warm, and she knew that he understood now. The rest of them could say what they wanted about her, about her childish dreams and painful love, but he was standing before her now, ready to step into her open and welcoming arms. Ready to come home.

_My baby's fly like a jet stream_

_High above the whole scene_

_Loves me like I'm brand new_

_So call it what you want, yeah_

_Call it what you want to_

He’d been so focused on his bond with Naruto, with Itachi, with trying to rid himself of them, that he’d pushed aside his bond with her. It wasn’t until later, when he’d reflected on his foolish plans of becoming Hokage that he considered her. What would she have done to stop him? In retribution for Naruto, for Kakashi, for her village? He often wondered, although the difference between their power wasn’t small, she might have become his most formidable opponent.

Standing in her doorway, she looked at him the same way she always had. Tenderly, eagerly, hopefully, a little shyly. A faint blush on her cheeks, no judgement in her eyes. She saw through everything he was, her jade eyes peered into his very soul. It was remarkable to him, that she could love him so purely after all of it, like he was still a boy that never left the village.

He stepped over the threshold and took her into his arm, a quick embrace that left him a little embarrassed, and he wondered at how he could return he affections so naturally and quickly. Like it was always meant to be that way.

_All my flowers grew back as thorns_

_Windows boarded up after the storm_

_He built a fire just to keep me warm_

He didn’t love her in an open way. There was no hand-holding in the open street, or kisses stolen as people passed them by. She never wanted that from him. All she wanted was to feel his love, in whatever way he was capable of showing her. That was everything she needed from him.

His affections came in quieter ways, privater ones. The flowers picked from the wild when she’d had a hard day. The new book - that wasn’t a medical journal - when she started to stress about work. Bringing her food to her office, even when she wasn’t there.

The two-fingered forehead tap when he left and promised her, ‘next time.’

_All the drama queens taking swings_

_All the jokers dressing up as kings_

_They fade to nothing when I look at him_

He was a target for his name, for his past, for his eyes, for the glory that would come by being the one to defeat him. He didn’t care for any of that, he didn’t care about the ones that challenged him. He only did what was necessary when it was necessary, but he did no more than that. He had learned.

He had a new goal in his mind, a new back to stare at, to catch up to. Beside his brother, beside Naruto, she now stood. There were things he could learn from her that neither of the others had.

_And I know I make the same mistakes every time_

_Bridges burn, I never learn_

_At least I did one thing right_

_I did one thing right_

But there were times that his blade dripped with blood and regret filled a hole in his heart. Those were the nights he reread the letters she sent him, when he wrote to her. She was the only one who he trusted with the vulnerable words he wrote in those moments in the darkest parts of the night. Hers was the only face he saw when he wanted to remember who he was.

_I'm laughing with my lover_

_Making forts under covers_

_Trust him like a brother_

_Yeah, you know I did one thing right_

_Starry eyes sparking up my darkest night_

She knew that if she asked him, he would come running. He knew the difference between her playful badgering of him to come home, and when something was wrong. She never asked him to come for her, she just said she had a bad feeling.

When he came, her heart lit up with a thousand fireworks. He smirked at her, held his hand to help her up, and asked her if she was okay. She’d never seen his onyx eyes so full of light.

_My baby's fit like a daydream_

_Walking with his head down_

_I'm the one he's walking to_

_So call it what you want, yeah_

_Call it what you want to_

Maybe it was a lucky thing she picked up from her lazy sensei, but Sakura sometimes had hunches that were right. They needed to go to an area that was occupied by missing-nin, shinobi who never returned to their villages after the war. It was the only place the herb grew, and they needed to harvest it desperately.

She went herself, with a genin and two low-level chunin’s who needed more field experience. It turned out her hunch was correct, and as soon as the missing-nin figured out who she was, they decided trying to capture her was a good idea.

It wasn’t.

Not when the man she loved was close by. Not when he loved as fiercely and protectively as she did. Her students were terrified, she scolded them and forced them to continue scavenging until they collected all the herb they could find.

He stood by her side. She didn’t know who was leaning against who, but their sides were pressing together, and for that moment, it was enough.

_My baby's fly like a jet stream_

_High above the whole scene_

_Loves me like I'm brand new_

_(Call it what you want, call it what you want, call it)_

_So call it what you want, yeah_

_Call it what you want to_

He’d been missing her. It wasn’t until he knew the warmth of a body beside him that he understood why people got married and sought the comfort of others in the dead of the night. The nights were the hardest times.

He went back with her after the mission, when he’d interrupted the ambush set for the best medic-nin in the world and her, he hated to admit, pathetically unprepared students. He did a little more than necessary to the ones who tried to incapacitate her. Though, she was doing plenty fine herself. He doubted one of them would ever walk again.

He didn’t realise how a single touch could electrify his body so much.

He didn’t want to leave her again.

_I want to wear his initial on a chain round my neck_

_Chain round my neck_

_Not because he owns me_

_But 'cause he really knows me_

_Which is more than they can say, I_

_I recall late November, holding my breath_

_Slowly I said, "You don't need to save me_

_But would you run away with me?"_

_Yes (would you run away?)_

She didn’t want him to leave without her. So she refused to let him. She packed her bag and waited for him at that bench, the one from when they were younger.

He faltered in his step when he saw her, but unlike last time, she didn’t beg him to stay. She didn’t cry, he didn’t say she was annoying and lay her to rest until the morning.

They walked side-by-side out the gate together.

He leaned down and gave her a small kiss on the side of her head.

“Thank you, Sakura.”

_My baby's fit like a daydream_

_Walking with his head down_

_I'm the one he's walking to_

_(Call it what you want, call it what you want, call it)_

_So call it what you want, yeah_

_Call it what you want to_

_My baby's fly like a jet stream_

_High above the whole scene_

_Loves me like I'm brand new_

_(Call it what you want, call it what you want, call it)_

_So call it what you want, yeah_

_Call it what you want to_


End file.
